


He Was Going Down—The Payback Job

by crayonbreakygal



Category: Leverage
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-24
Updated: 2016-03-24
Packaged: 2018-05-28 17:56:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,290
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6339484
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/crayonbreakygal/pseuds/crayonbreakygal
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Someone is going to pay.  Who will win in the end?  Takes place during and after The Boost Job, season three.</p>
            </blockquote>





	He Was Going Down—The Payback Job

Takes place during and after The Boost Job, season three; two separate versions on what could have happened. As usual, I’ve changed the timeline on what happened between them.

He Was Going Down—The Payback Job

Oh, he was so going down, Sophie thought. No one, no one slapped her ass and got away with it. And in public too. Nate thought he was acting the part when she knew otherwise. He took advantage of the situation. Men.

She was going to kick his ass as soon as she could. Or maybe she’d get Eliot to do it. He was already been primed by her neurolinguistic programming. It wouldn’t take much to tell him to punch Nate. Wait, she didn’t even have to do that. Eliot wanted to punch Nate daily.

Nate was trying to one up the newest mark, Penzer, with racing and selling used cars and having the hottest car salesperson. She was indeed the hottest there was. Had any of them seen who Penzer was hiring?

Borrowing Eliot’s muscle car, Nate beat the bastard, by cheating yes, but he did manage to beat him. Then he took to selling used cars for much less than they were worth and it was all because of her. She wondered if that gave him a thrill, to use her to bait the mark, then take all the glory once the con was done.

Not that Penzer was any better because she had to dodge his roving hands while they had drinks together.

Something went wrong on the con. Whether it was Penzer being too smart for his own good or for one of the team blowing their cover, something went wrong. Sophie knew she was in trouble when he stated that he had something at the lot that he needed handled while she sat not three feet from him. She didn’t jump the gun just at that moment, but when Nate told her over the comm that they were blown, she tried to use the restroom excuse to leave. Penzer was having none of it and drew a gun on her.

Nate was on his way and the rest of the crew would be there shortly. She just had to wait it out, only she didn’t want to always depend on them, so when she opened the door to slip out, she ran directly into Nate. Penzer must have known that he was around because he managed to follow Nate in and caught them both.

Sophie glared at Nate for making the mistake, although to be truthful, she did call him by his real name. Why did he frustrate her so?

Eliot had told them to stall, so how else would they except argue. They were good at that and it distracted the mark. The knee was the masterpiece though. She didn’t hold back much when she did it because, hey, let’s make it look realistic. Nate was angry with her, probably making her pay big time once this was over. She didn’t care though.

Most of what they said was gibberish, but Sophie had to throw the part about her trusting a drunk. That would at least shut him up for a few days until he confronted her about the knee.

In the end, it all worked out. Paul was able to jumpstart his landscape business, he hired Josie so she’d stay out of trouble, and Nate didn’t kill Parker for almost blowing the whole con. He still hadn’t confronted her about the knee or the yelling that he was a drunk. And she hadn’t apologized.

Sophie missed the sofa that Hardison had taken away when Nate was in prison. She had nowhere to get comfy while she waited for the team to show up. So she did the next best thing, she raided the refrigerator. While bending over to snag some fruit on the bottom shelf, she felt another slap to her backside.

Coming up swinging, she missed Nate’s head by less than an inch. He was going to pay, the bastard.

“Do you mind?”

He backed up a bit, throwing his hands up in the air.

“Payback. A slap is one thing, but a knee is another.”

“You deserved that.”

“Oh really?”

“Yes, really.”

Then she noticed that Nate was walking a bit funny. Had she really hurt him? Part of her was cheering the fact that he was sore and the rest of her was a bit sorry for not hurting him more. She guessed that a small part of her wished she didn’t use the full force of her knee to unman him.

“You relished that part a bit too much, Nate.”

“I can say that I did have fun on this one. Minus the guns and the knee, that is.”

“Men. Your cars and your competitiveness and swagger.”

“I have swagger?”

Sophie rolled her eyes. “Yes, you did on this one. You always do. Took you down a peg, didn’t I?”

His feral grin made her back up a bit. Gone was the separation between the kitchen and the rest of the place since Hardison remodeled. Maybe she’d make it to the door before he did. He looked as if he wanted revenge and she wasn’t going to let him achieve it.

“Well, see you,” she said as she started for the door.

Only she didn’t make it. He leaned against the back of the door, still grinning at her.

“Hey, move,” she announced as she tried to move him out of the way.

He didn’t and slowly started to walk towards her, pinning her against the high table where they worked.

“When you least expect it, Sophie, I will get payback,” he said, whispering in her ear, making her shiver with anticipation.

He walked away, making her wonder what he had planned.

For the next week, he played a few small practical jokes on her, but nothing major. The one she hated the most was him dipping her comm in something that smelled awful. Hardison had yelled about that, but Nate just smirked her way, like it was her fault. He took to whispering in her other ear at the most idiotic moments to throw her off her game. He didn’t do it when they were working a con, but it still annoyed her when he did it.

He’d brush by her, lightly touching some body part when no one else was looking. He’d stand too close to her, just to make her uncomfortable and sometimes hot and bothered. He was driving her crazy. Two could play that game.

She got him back for the ear bud with grease in his hair product. He almost never wore anything in it, hence the crazy hair he had at times, but during a con, she could always count on him attempting to look the part of blending in. He must have washed his hair a dozen times to get the stuff out.

She’d sit right next to him while Hardison was briefing them on the next case, bend over to give him a look down her blouse, then glare at him as he did. Sophie also replaced his Irish whiskey with the cheap stuff. The moment he spit the stuff out all over the place spelled victory. The last straw was when she started touching him in response to his touches. It drove him crazy that she was retaliating against his idea.

One night, after everyone had left the bar and Nate closed up, Sophie chose to join him in a drink. It was a quiet night, with the younger team members heading off early since they’d had a hard week of work behind them. Sophie dressed to kill, or as she’d put it, dressed to seduce just to screw with Nate. Not too forward, but enough where he’d look. Who was she kidding? He’d look at anything she was wearing.

“I think we need to call a truce,” he said as he poured her a drink.

“I was just getting started, Nate.”

“I might not (pause for a sigh) survive much longer.”

Oh she had him.

“I was having quite a bit of fun.”

“I’ll bet. You look incredible tonight.”

The twinkle in his eyes was unmistakable. Was he really playing her or did he really like what he saw?   She could never tell with Nate. She’d play it out to see where it led.

“Thank you,” she said as she got up from her seat to move closer to him as he sat down.

She touched the back of his neck just slightly as she sat down, almost touching shoulders as she did. Nate swallowed what he had left in his glass, then placed it slowly down onto the bar.

“You’re good at this, very good at this.”

“I aim to please.”

She had unbuttoned a few more buttons while he wasn’t looking.

“So good that I don’t know when you’re still playing or not. Which is it, Sophie?”

“Who said I was playing anything, Nate?”

He brushed his hand over her knee. That was it. This meant war to her. She’d show him. She caught the hand and held it in place, right on her knee.

“Sophie?”

“Nate?”

It was the little stutter of breath out of Nate that told her that he wasn’t playing anymore. And the fact that with his pale skin, she could tell when he blushed. Not many people would know, but she did.

Leaning over, she whispered in his ear, “Why don’t you concede?”

The hand came off her leg instantly. Oh, his competitive side was making an appearance.

“Who said I haven’t already won?”

He was crowding her space, face mere inches from her own.

“Still sore?”

He narrowed his eyes at her, looking a bit confused at why she asked that.

“No,” he managed to get out as his eyes traveled to where hers were zeroing in.

“Oh, too bad.”

She moved away from him.

“What? Too bad?”

He was flustered. Nate didn’t know what her game was at that point. He had no clue.

“I just thought that if you needed help.”

Nate closed his eyes, probably to block out the images that she was presenting. Slipping down off the stool, Sophie gained her feet, making the short skirt ride up even more. The bonus was the intimate brushing up to him as she did. His eyes were blown wide, like he was really surprised and fascinated at the same time. She hooked him. Did Sophie really want to reel him in or let him dangle a bit more?

“What kind of help?”

Oh, the ever hopeful Nate Ford, she thought.

“I can get you an ice pack,” was her suggestion.

Nate grimaced a little thinking about how that would feel, then shook his head no.

“That’s alright. I think I have everything under control.”

“Really?” as she watched him shift a little on his barstool. “Seems that you’re still a bit uncomfortable.”

“Not the reason I’m uncomfortable,” Nate mumbled, but Sophie still heard the comment.

With all the sexual innuendo that was flying around, Sophie didn’t think she’d be able to keep up the play-by-play much longer without combusting into a million pieces. Nate was already almost over the limit of what any human male could stand.

“See ya,” she whispered as she passed by him to go to the door.

The silk of her shirt gently rubbed up against his hand as she passed him. She swayed her hips just a bit more than usual to get her point across. She’d win in the end. He’d concede.

“What do you get if I concede?”

Advantage, Devereaux. “Foot rubs twice a week and no slapping of my ass, unless I want you to.”

She added the last part in for good measure.

By the time San Lorenzo came around, Sophie was ready to explode. He’d taken to basically torturing her with the foot rubs and the touches that no one else noticed. Instead of him getting to slap her, she turned the tables on him. Since he was a bit sadistic in nature, he liked it, which gave her a way to make him behave when she needed. She had him wrapped around her finger.

 

Another version

“You slapped me.”

“You knee’d me, in the groin. There’s a bit of difference in that.”

“Not to me.”

They were at a stalemate, both standing two feet from each other, hands on hips. Sophie would have thought it humorous if she hadn’t noticed that Nate was walking a bit funny.

“Still hurt?” she asked.

“Yeah, it does, no thanks to you.”

“I can get you some ice.”

Nate grimaced a little. “No.”

Sophie knew she’d get into a lot of trouble, but she had to say this anyway. “Can I kiss and make it better.”

Nate was speechless, absolutely speechless. “You, um, could, um.”

He looked absolutely adorable in his sweats and a t-shirt, probably worn for comfort after the incident only a few hours before.

“Maybe you should go to the doctor.”

“No,” he managed to strangle out.

“Your face, it’s a bit red. Are you sure you’re OK?”

“Positive,” he said as he moved towards her.

“I should go.”

There was nothing she could put between her and Nate. He was going to exact his revenge, she was sure.

“Uh, no. Sophie.”

“No?”

Before she could move any further, he had her up and over his shoulder.

“Nate, put me down.”

He actually managed to carry her up the winding staircase, into his bedroom and unceremoniously dumped her on his bed. He slowly made his way onto the bed like he was stalking her as prey.

“Now, what was it about a kiss?”

 


End file.
